A Place to Check Out Bargains by the Shelf : Used-Book Shop Offers Thousands of Titles

There’s nothing too fancy or complicated about it: Gerry McDonald just loves books. And so do her customers.

“When I was a kid, I was always happy sitting around reading with my nose in a book, but my mother was always after me to dust,” McDonald, 61, recalled as she sat in her used-book shop one recent morning.

McDonald’s passion for reading has been enhanced by her mother’s penchant for neatness to make Mr. Goodbooks a clean, orderly and pleasant place to peruse. Because she is selective when it comes to what to put on her shelves, McDonald’s store--one of several dozen used-book shops that dot Orange County--is full of great bargains on books current and classic. It is not a treasure trove for rare collectors’ items, but rather a carefully organized shop with an array of titles that avid readers adore.

“I just go through every book until I find what I want,” explained Patricia Michaels, 45, a Mr. Goodbooks regular who focuses on metaphysics, psychology, poetry and worries about aging and death. “I come in about twice a month and buy as much as I can afford, as much as my husband will let me carry into the house.”

“I can’t see paying the price for the books they have at the other stores,” she said, holding half a dozen paperbacks. “I think (that’s) a waste of money when you can buy it here.”

Sandwiched between empty storefronts in Laguna Hills Plaza on Alicia Parkway, the 1,200-square-foot store is filled with about 700 bookshelves, which, in turn, are packed with about 25,000 books.

Plain wooden bookshelves stand on floors covered with a warm forest-green carpet and simple, rectangular lights gleam down from the ceiling. Soft classical music plays unobtrusively and a medium-size globe sits on a high shelf behind the sales counter.

Aside from that, there is no decor. No wall hangings, no knickknacks, no special displays, no furniture to speak of.

Just books.

Hardcover fiction, most priced between $4 and $10, is arranged alphabetically by author in the center aisles. Stephen King, Judith Krantz, Robert Ludlum and local authors such as Dean Koontz are the big sellers, McDonald said.

Stacks of nonfiction hardcovers, priced slightly higher, wrap around the aisles. They are organized and labeled with clear black block letters by category: astronomy and Americana, mathematics and metaphysics, history, psychology and religion.

In one corner there are paperback novels, light on the mind and the wallet at $1 to $3. Another nook holds children’s books--the 1980s Sweet Valley High romance series for $1 apiece, classic Nancy Drew hardcover mysteries for $1.50. Seven shelves hold cookbooks that are hot sellers, and in the middle of the floor there is a hub of coffee-table books: art, photography and travel digests.

At the rear, in a small back room, is a hide-out for plays, foreign-language books, science fiction, and business/economics selections. A single chair is squashed in a cubbyhole, tempting browsers to stop, sit and read.

“It needs to be neat and clean with good lighting. People need to be helped as much as they want, but not bugged to death,” McDonald said, offering her recipe for a successful used book shop. “The most important thing is to have something that doesn’t look like an old dusty back closet they have to dig through.”

McDonald, a soft-spoken, gray-haired woman, sits at the front of the store behind a glass case that holds some finer items: first editions of John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” ($35) and Larry McMurtry’s “Anything for Billy” ($60), along with Ben Franklin’s “Wit and Wisdom” ($3) and a tiny bright blue volume, “Student’s Handbook to the University of Oxford,” dated 1883 and complete with the school’s seal on the cover ($20).

“Some of the stores have real rare books--we’re not in that category,” McDonald said. “We have some nice old books; I put it that way.”

Among her favorites is “Gems for the Household,” a 700-page leather-bound tome published in 1893 with the more-revealing subtitle, “Embracing Rules and Maxims for Society Home and School.” Laughing, McDonald flips the crinkly pages, showing off pencil sketches of various figures unsuitable for marriage, such as “the mean old miser” and “the ignoramus.”

At $25, “Gems for the Household” is a bargain. Other old books in the store cost as much as $200, but most of the volumes bear single-digit price tags.

Low prices have helped McDonald’s used book business survive the recession. Sales at Mr. Goodbooks have barely fallen over the last year, while the sites on either side of the store--formerly an aerobics studio and a camera shop--have been empty for nearly a year.

At the used-book shop, located near Leisure World, about a third of the customers are senior citizens, and many appreciate the nostalgia that comes with old books.

Leisure World also provides McDonald with some of her merchandise. She buys items its library does not want, and many of the residents drop-off boxes of books when they move from their Leisure World homes into smaller retirement motels or nursing homes.

McDonald gets about 70% of her wares from individuals who come knocking. The rest she picks up at garage sales, other used book dealers or book fairs. She looks for popular authors and interesting subjects, only accepts volumes that are in good condition, and always keeps an eye out for the unusual. Still, she rejects about half to two-thirds of what is offered for sale.

“We have people who will drop off boxes of books on the back doorstep,” McDonald said.

“Like they’d leave a baby on a stoop,” her husband, Norman Hodgkin, chimed in.

“People simply cannot stand to throw away a book,” the couple said.

Sharing a love for books in such a friendly atmosphere is what makes Mr. Goodbooks special for staff and customers.

“Most people when they leave--even if they don’t buy anything--they’ll say: ‘Thank you very much,’ ” McDonald said. “It’s like you’ve asked them into your house, invited them to share your space. It’s real neat.”